서울 수도원 피정의 집

History & origins

The history of the Seoul Monastery Retreat House belongs to the broader development of Benedictine monastic life and retreat ministry in Korea. The Benedictines entered Korea in the early twentieth century, developed communities in Seoul and Tokwon, and after the Korean War and national division re-established monastic life around Waegwan. Waegwan Abbey continued its liturgical and monastic tradition while expanding several apostolates for the Korean Church, including publishing, education, and retreats.

The establishment of retreat houses for the spiritual life of Catholics became an important part of this apostolate. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture records that Waegwan Abbey opened Korea’s first retreat house at Waegwan in 1964, followed by one in Busan in 1971 and another in Jangchung-dong, Seoul, in 1979. Establishing retreat facilities beyond the monastery itself represented an effort to open Benedictine traditions of prayer and liturgy to a broader Catholic public.

The Seoul retreat house founded in Jangchung-dong in 1979 has continued to be listed as a retreat and prayer facility within the Archdiocese of Seoul under the responsibility of Waegwan Abbey. Its significance lies not in reproducing the whole life of the monastery in the city, but in giving concrete form in the metropolitan area to the retreat ministry developed at Waegwan. The present Seoul Monastery Retreat House is thus a continuation of the abbey’s intensified support for lay spirituality in the 1960s and 1970s and remains a point of connection between Benedictine monastic tradition and Catholic life in the city. Within the Benedictine history of sharing monastic prayer and liturgical spirituality with people outside the monastery, the Jangchung-dong house did not attempt to reproduce the entire rhythm of monastic life in the city. Instead, it became a bridge through which urban Catholics could encounter that spirituality in the form of retreat.